(October 20, 1965- )
Born in Mount Prospect, Illinois
US Attorney for the Eastern District of Texas (2007-08)
Mayor of Heath, Texas (2008-12)
US Representative from Texas’s 4th District (assumed office January 3, 2015)
Ranked as second most conservative member of Congress by the Heritage Foundation
Proposed by Donald Trump for the post of Director of National Intelligence (July 28, 2019)
Name withdrawn five days later (August 2, 2019)

Why he might be annoying

He repeatedly embellished his record as US Attorney.
He claimed to have ‘arrested 300 illegal aliens in a single day’; his office actually arrested 45 suspected illegal immigrants (two of whom turned out to be US citizens).
He boasted about ‘putting terrorists in prison,’ but never prosecuted a terrorism case.
He claimed there is ‘no evidence’ of Russian interference to benefit Trump in the 2016 election – an opinion directly at odds with the conclusions of the intelligence agencies he would have been overseeing.
He claimed to have found proof of a ‘secret society’ within the FBI working to undermine Trump – which turned out to be a joking use of the phrase in a text discussing an agent purchasing ‘beefcake’ calendars of Vladimir Putin as a gag gift for FBI employees working on the Russian investigation.
During questioning of special counsel Robert Mueller, he repeatedly mischaracterized Mueller’s investigation.
His claims that Mueller violated the rules for special counsels were refuted as ‘dead wrong’ by Neal Katyal, who drafted the special counsel regulations.
Former federal prosecutor Chuck Rosenburg said, ‘Prior to the Mueller hearing, if somebody had asked me about John, I would have said he was an honorable and decent guy. I thought his treatment of Mueller was unfair, disingenuous and wrong, and it gives me pause.’
Members of the intelligence community expressed concerns that his appointment as DNI would politicize a traditionally nonpartisan post.

Why he might not be annoying

He earned a scholarship to Notre Dame.
He authored bills to improve cybersecurity.
The Dallas Morning News wrote, ‘Ratcliffe's first term in Washington proves that freshman lawmakers can be players of consequence in Congress.’
His questioning of Mueller reportedly impressed Trump.